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These are the last two Hallel psalms: two short verses in 117 and 29 in 118. Psalm 117 is described as a hymn of praisie, or a universal call to worship by the editors of the NRSV. The few short lines in 117 remind me of the quick prayers before meals that my sons chant off when they're really hungry, so rapidly that my mind can barely register a mood of thankfulness. The journalist in me likes the all-encompassing theology in Psalm 117: in two verses the psalmist lays out the heart of the psalms. Praise God because God loves us forever. Praise God!
Psalm 118 is a communal thanksgiving psalm which repeats the ideas and phrases of Psalm 117 in its opening lines: "O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever." This psalm repeats imagery we've seen elsewhere in the Psalms -- that of entering the gates of righteousness, God's royal court, and contains lines we will see later in the New Testament, such as verse 22: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone."
And of course, this psalm also contains the well-loved lines: "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." This gives me the chance to post the picture of the quilt I made in honour of my sister's ordination, now hanging in the chapel of the nursing home where she is chaplain. I chose this verse because it is familiar, and because it reminds us that each day is a day to be thankful. And this psalm closes with the same lines it opens with, framing the psalm in thanksgiving and pointing to its liturgical function.
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Brenda, I am one of those quilters who reads your "other" blog. Now you have drawn me over here too.
ReplyDeleteI am often struck by the facts that
1] we do NOT use a goodly number of the Psalms in our liturgy [Episcopal], and
2] I have hardly ever heard a sermon on the Psalm for the day.
I once took a class in the Psalms by Walter Breuggemann at Notre Dame [summer school, getting a Master's]--it was one of the most memorable classes ever. Several times he shook his fist at the ceiling and said/yelled, "Where are you God? You said you would be with us always. Now we're in a terrible situation, and WHERE ARE YOU?!!" I think we should do that in church sometimes. It's much more real than saying everything is fine all the time.
Another insight he shared was , "Ask yourself the question, 'For whom is this psalm Good News?' This will help you understand the speaker.
Thanks for your sharing.
Sara Homeyer
My mother told me that her mother, who died before I was born, used to say the verse you quilted first thing every morning, so I made a cross stitch of it for my mother.
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